But will the competition follow suit now that the nation's two biggest wireless carriers offer shared data plans? Well, T-Mobile definitely doesn't seem interested. That becomes quite clear after reading a recent statement by Harry Thomas, who is the director of product marketing at T-Mobile. He accuses the AT&T and Verizon shared data plans of being "costly" even though they should provide more value in exchange of subscribers' money. Besides, they make it harder for users to keep track of their data consumption, which isn't a good thing since there are overage fees to be considered. At the same time, Thomas believes that T-Mobile's data offerings are cheaper and more flexible than those of its rivals.

Below is the exact statement:

“Unlike AT&T and Verizon, T-Mobile does not plan on introducing shared family data plans and believes consumers will not benefit from that model. AT&T and Verizon shared family plans are:

COSTLY – AT&T and Verizon are charging more for what consumers want by raising rates on data, but promoting the “value” by pointing to unlimited talk and text even though today many consumers use less of these services.

COMPLICATED – both plans force customers to share data when many customers don’t know how much data they’re using, which makes it hard to stay within their limit when trying to balance multiple users.

PUNITIVE – At the same time that AT&T and Verizon are making it harder for customers to manage overages, they are also charging overage rates of $15/GB for accounts with at least one smartphone.

Conversely, at T-Mobile we believe that:

Customers who pay more, should get more – Rather than having to account for each device on a shared family data plan, T-Mobile customers can use their existing data plan to power multiple devices, while still saving hundreds of dollars annually.

Data should be worry-free – With T-Mobile’s unlimited data plans, there is no surprise data cap or bill shock.
Data plans should be flexible and affordable – At T-Mobile, customers have the option of only paying for the amount of data each member of the family believes they will need.”

Harry Thomas for T-Mobile

Do you agree with what Harry Thomas said about Verizon and AT&T's shared data plans? Let us know what you think by dropping a comment below.

27 Comments

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At least AT&T and Verizon have 4G Lte networks. If T-Mobile had a 4G Lte network they would have a reason to say it's costly. You get what you pay for and if you want to be on the two best networks in America you gotta pay more.

Regardless of what T-Mobile wants to say, I'm pretty sure both companies give the customer good tools to manage and track their data usage and sure T-Mobile can say unlimited all they want but we all know its not unlimited 4g speed all the time can you say speed toggled

Yes I do agree. If you're on Verizon have a smart phone and go with the cheapest plans you're paying $40 for the phone and $50 for the data totaling $90. But with the old plans you could be paying $40 for the cheapest minute plan and then paying $30 for data totaling $70. With these new plans, they're charging you more and giving you less

My plan for example, 1 smartphone (unlimited data), 1 tablet (2GB data), 1 basic phone. I pay $130 a month. If I were to switch to that share everything plan with the cheapest data (1GB data), I'd still be paying the same amount, you'd think with this shared data they'd charge less for it because it sounds like a good deal and a good way to save money, but it's not, it's either more money or the same as you're current. No matter which way you configure it, you're not saving anything.

@@@@No matter which way you configure it, you're not saving anything.@@@@. I have 5 lines with unlimited talk and text with 5 $30 2gb data plans on vzw and my average usage with all 5 lines is under 10gb for all lines. What would be cheaper? By what I read form you the new plans would cost the same or more. Am I correct? Or are you wrong? I thought that the old unlimited plan was $50 for the plan and $49.99 per line and then $30 per data plan… this is a total of $449.95…… With the plans that you say save no money I think it would cost me $40 per phone ($200) and $100 for the plan of 10gb and unlimited minutes and text. I keep coming up with $300. From what I read here there is no way this is correct. I know what I read there is no way it can be $149.95 less than what I am paying now. Can someone correct this for me?

Single lines can still get set up on the old plans. The new plans a re meant to benefit family plans. An old plan was 700 min, unl text, and 2 gigs per smartphone... that was $160 a month. Now you get unlimited talk and text and 4 gig for $150 plus mobile hotspots for free on the phone. How is this costly in comparison to what they used to offer? All those features used to cost $250 on the old plans. Customers no longer need to manage talk, text and data they now only need to manage data... makes sense for most people to use these plans.

2 lines with hotspot was not 250.00...maybe if you actually had unlimited talk though....screw VZW I get my hotspot free without going to this plan - I get 4GB/30.00 and two other lines get 2GB each for 30.00....I actually save 20.00 by staying put.

T-Mobile using very creative wording. How is it costly? So 95% of data consuming customers use less then what they pay for. Example: 9/10 People go to a buffet and pay $30 to only eat a slice of cake. While 1/10 consume a substantial amount. Verizon decides to now only charge u for how many plates u fill.
Complicated??? Verizon alerts u on data 50,75,90,100% usage. If u want more data $10 for 2gb or ignore it and pay $30 for 2gb.
Punitive??? How so Verizon spent time educating me on how to check usage online, on my phone, and tell me my average of last 3 months.
Screw tmobile and the retarded marketing team of theirs.

I was trying out a S3 at a T Mobile store about 2 weeks I have Verizon so they get it late.....but while I was playing around on the phone there was this lady so pissed with T Mobile service she was desperate to not have T Mobile she hated the service and was complaining about how un realible it was to one of the workers.....yeah soooooooo lol

I can't help but laugh at these circumstances surrounding Verizon and At&t. All they do is copy one another monkey see monkey do. They rip off there customers monthly on bills and the overall service at best is a joke at least from Verizon's standpoint. Every device on Verizon's Lte network records reception and signal strength differently. Their is no consistantcy and battery life is the poorest in the industry. Verizon doesn't tell people that much plus couple in the piss poor ability to update device they are the biggest joke in carrier land. Been their done that I kicked Verizon to the curb June 28th for Tmobile and haven't looked back ever since. My Galaxy S3 gets great speeds and great signal strength as well as the best reception ever. My Galaxy S3 works in places my Galaxy Nexus never worked. Verizon can keep their saturated Lte network that has slowed down to a snails crawl since December 2011. Oh yeah how's those constant Lte outages coming along Verizon sucks rotten eggs and it's network is overrated at best. Tmobile s**ts all over Verizon with it's HSPA PLUS 42MPS network.

I agree with T-Mo in principle. For many, this is a rate increase and they do have a point: most people don't want unlimited voice and text.

On the other hand, if you want LTE, there really isn't any other place to go except Sprint - which is brand new and doesn't have much in the way of coverage. And at least around here - TMobile isn't that great. My son's mom has it and she's always complaining about service but sticks with them because they're cheap.

I'd love to see AT&T and Verizon take T-Mo's stance, but until either they or Sprint can make a really strong stand against the other two, it's going to be the same crap continuing.

They don't need to say it. Anyone with a brain knows it is. If you, you're family and friends are on VZW, you will have user to user calls and txt at a lower cost then the ridiculous share program they have going right now. I think they should offer a discount if you have someone on the plan that will not access the internet and use of txt messages. Maybe or 15 for that line.

I work for Verizon Wireless and while it seems like these new plans can be more costly, in most instances, they save people money. The average consumer usually doesn't know how much data they use on a monthly basis- when the average is 2GB or less. We also don't force you to change from your old plan- if you like it, you can keep it. We have 4 times the towers of T-Mobile, and HSPA+ is not considered 4G by the FCC which is why they have a time limit on when they need to upgrade to actual 4G, or they have to call it what it is, HPSA +. T-Mobile doesn't have the largest anything in the US, 4G or otherwise. We also don't force you to get unlimited talk and text, we have other options where you can get a minute and text messaging allowance. While most people use less minutes, some still do use a large amount and most consumers do use enough text messaging to warrant unlimited. You get what you pay for with Verizon, does it cost a little more? Yes. Do you get better service and devices? Yes. Is it worth the extra $15-$20 a month? Definitley.

For a company that's trying to shake the image of the "value carrier," the higher ups don't do a good job of it. I'm not trying to rain on T-Mobile's parade, but honestly, they're #4 for a reason. Their coverage is meh at best, while AT&T and Verizon beat them in nationwide coverage. As for the plans, they're costly to, say, individual users, but for families, they can be beneficial, depending on how much data you use.

For example, I took the liberty of researching the Verizon "Share Everything" plans with Sprint's "Family Share" plans. Sprint offers unlimited data and 1500 minutes. However, my mother uses a basic phone, as in, just talk and light texting. We pay about $150 a month because I use a smartphone. However, with the Verizon "Share Everything" plans, if we use the same setup: 1 smartphone ($40) + 1 basic phone ($30) + 2 GB ($60) = $130, not including taxes. Since I'm usually on Wi-Fi and rarely go over 2GB of data, we could essentially pay LESS for better service, not to mention, we both get unlimited talk and text on top of that.

Depending on your needs as a consumer and how much data you use, the shared data plans can save SOME people money. It just depends. At least AT&T isn't forcing their shared data plans on everyone, not to mention that people can still upgrade their service like normal without having to hop on a shared data plan.

These plans only benefit 5+ phones on an account that all use alot of data. You should be able to pay the same amount you always paid for 2GB ($25) and share it on any devices on your plan, PERIOD. They should not charge to share the data you're already paying for. I have 3 smartphones, 2 of which only use 100MB each month, and a basic phone. These plans do not benefit me.

I already have 1400 anytime w/rollover, unlimited nights/weekends, unlimited mobile-to-mobile (any carrier), A-list (call any 10 #'s for free) unlimited family texting. So basically I already have unlimited talk and text. I only get minutes taken off when we call a landline during the day, that's not on our A-List. And we have a RIDICULOUS amount of rollover mins.. So unlimited talk and text are irrelevant to plans like mine. It's the data that I'm being robbed on.

I wish there was a company with Tmobiles' philosophy and customer appreciation, but with AT&T/Verizon service. That's the thing... these big companies don't appreciate their subs.

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